Fresh demands are about to be made on 1.4 million freelance workers, self-employed professionals and farmers, as according to the new updated bailout agreement, the country’s creditors are insisting on an increase in social security contributions.

Annual property tax payment notices were electronically sent to roughly seven million owners with at least one holding to their name in Greece over the weekend.

...the total sum imposed on property owners for 2017 in Greece comes to 3.153 billion euros, of which 2.7 billion are owed by individuals and 448 million by legal entities, such as companies, funds, non-profit institutions etc.

The ENFIA tax has been one of the most unpopular taxes imposed in Greece over recent memory, with the previous Samaras government losing much of its popularity over the measure, and with the then leftist SYRIZA party promising to abolishing the tax "in full", when it was in the opposition.

Nevertheless, following the signing of the third memorandum by the current SYRIZA-led leftist-rightist government, the ENFIA tax has been entrenched even more.

Two of Greece's best-known children's charities have been hit with an expensive property tax bill for 2017, with the SOS Children's Villages slapped with a 95,000-euro bill and the "Smile of the Child" organization handed a more than 70,000-euro obligation.

In a press release on Tuesday, the first charity said the annual property tax bill is "unbearable" and equals the cost of the yearly operation of a children's and family support center. SOS Children's Villages also said it receives no state funding for its programs and decried the fact that no provision has been made for tax breaks towards charities and benevolent organizations.

This means either a rate hike for the Single Property Tax (ENFIA) or its replacement with the Large Property Tax (FMAP) to shift the load onto owners of medium-size and large properties to make the annual revenue target of 2.65 billion euros.

Next year’s Single Property Tax (ENFIA) is evolving into a major problem for the government, as by May it will have to present Parliament with a bill including the new rates, as well as to decide which owners will bear the brunt of the load for 2018.

The adjustment of “objective values” (the property rates used for tax purposes), which must be completed within the first quarter of 2018, is forcing the government back to the drawing board for the ENFIA, as the agreement with its creditors provides for bringing objective values to market prices. This will lead to an increase in the taxable values in low-income neighborhoods and a decline in expensive areas such as the capital’s Voula, Ekali and Psychico.

A number of court decisions and the exemption of property owners who have suffered damage due to earthquakes resulted in a 340.6-million-euro shortfall in the revenues expected from the Single Property Tax (ENFIA) last year.

In that case the ministry will need to adjust its ENFIA rates, adding to the load imposed on taxpayers. It is likely that owners of properties valued at 200,000 euros and over will have to pay more.

The process of bringing Greece’s taxable property rates (known as objective values) in line with actual market prices will lead to a considerable hike of between 20 and 40 percent for the vast majority of cities and regions outside the capital, according to proposals being submitted by surveyors.

The rise of the short-term rental market has played a decisive role in the increase of market rates.

The adjusted property rates used for taxation purposes (known as “objective values”) will be increased in 6,070 zones around the country, Deputy Finance Minister Katerina Papanatsiou stated on Thursday. Speaking on Sto Kokkino radio, she added that the state revenues from the Single Property Tax (ENFIA) will remain the same.

Generally, the objective values in the Ionian islands, the northern Aegean and the majority of tourism destinations will see an increase.

Sources say the government is considering keeping the ENFIA charges the same as they are now, and opting instead to shift the extra load to the supplementary property tax. The rates for ENFIA will therefore be lower than last year for all owners and the difference in revenues will be covered by the 500,000 owners with property valued at over 200,000 euros.

Greece’s 7 million property owners will find out next month what the new taxable rates in their area will be, ahead of receiving their Single Property Tax (ENFIA) pay notices in the last few days of August.

Kathimerini understands that, following the adjustment, the losers will be the owners of properties with current zone rates ranging from 750 to 1,500 euros per square meter. In those areas ENFIA will rise between 3.5 and 21.6 percent, and in a handful of cases the increase will amount to 62 percent from last year.

The Finance Ministry is processing a plan for the gradual application of the new "objective values" (property rates used for tax purposes) so as to spread the extra burden on property owners over three years.

This way millions of owners won’t have to pay a massively increased bill for their Single Property Tax (ENFIA) bill this August as the country prepares for its exit from the bailout program, but instead just a third of the additional tax due.

However, the creditors have not yet approved this plan, and that is not going to happen before early June, when they get the final data on the ENFIA test calculation based on the new rates.

Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos on Tuesday dampened any hopes of across-the-board reductions in Greece's unpopular property tax (ENFIA), telling deputies elected with ruling SYRIZA party that 67 percent of property owners in the country would see no change in rates for this year, compared to 2017.

The data on the adjusted property rates used for tax purposes (known as “objective values”) that the Finance Ministry released on Tuesday showed that for 946,671 households and 7,126 enterprises, the Single Property Tax (ENFIA) will grow this year by up to 200 euros, or a little more in some cases... in densely populated areas, on Greece’s islands and at tourism destinations in general.

Tax experts warn that besides the ENFIA hikes, thousands of owners, particularly at tourism destinations, should brace for income tax hikes too as the rise in objective values will also raise the total value of their assets on which their income tax is also calculated, known in Greek as “tekmiria.”

Increases of up to 61.54 percent and reductions of up to 37.5 percent delineate the breadth of new objective tax criteria approved by the finance ministry this week - rates on which property taxes will be based for 2018.

Higher rates were approved for several "working class" or middle-class districts in the greater Athens area, such as Keratea, Perama and Drapetsona, as well as on Crete and other islands. At the same time, pricey inner city Athens districts will also witness property rate hikes.

Conversely, many of the more affluent districts of Athens and Thessaloniki will see objective tax criteria fall, given that in previous years such rates were judged to be exorbitantly high.

However, the majority of rates by which the property tax (ENFIA) is calculated remained the same.

In what is yet another Greek tax travesty, the state continues to use different “objective values” (property prices used for tax purposes) for the taxation of residential properties, with one used for the calculation of the Single Property Tax (ENFIA) and another when the property is sold.

The Independent Authority for Public Revenue has started calculating the Single Property Tax (ENFIA) for 6.4 million property owners according to the new objective values that apply as of January 1, 2018, but only for the purpose of ENFIA’s calculation.

The pay slips will not be issued in August, as is usually the case, but probably in mid-September.

The Finance Ministry committee responsible for the adjustment of property prices used for tax purposes – known as “objective values” – will head back to the drawing board after the summer holidays.

This means that more changes should be expected in the calculation of the Single Property Tax (ENFIA), as the rates to be used for this year will change again next year and again in 2020, adding to the load of some households and easing the burden on others.

Τaxpayers will pay will receive ENFIA real estate tax bills by 31 AugustTwelve percent of taxpayers will pay up to an extra 50 euros, 2.3 percent percent will pay between 50 and 200 euros more, and 0.7 percent of taxpayers will pay an additional 200 or more euros in real estate taxes.

Around one million property owners are facing a significantly higher ENFIA bill this year, with the hike coming to as much as 100 percent depending on the location and features of a given property, as notifications started going out on Tuesday night.

The plumper bill for this year's Single Property Tax – known widely by its acronym – arises from an adjustment in property rates, which resulted in increases in 3,792 parts of the country, or 37 percent of the whole.

In the majority of cases, the ENFIA hike will range from 3 to 30 percent, but there are a few shockers out there.

For the majority, however, the ENFIA tax will be more or less the same as last year.